Thursday, October 2, 2025

Lunch Buffet

Doors Open 11:30AM

At

 

 

 Founder, Starry Skies North

 

Learn how artificial light is impacting our world and about the movement to reduce the harmful human health and environmental effects of light pollution from Starry Skies North founder Cynthia Lapp

 

 

Chambers Grove Park

Oct. 10, 2025
1:00 p.m. – 5:00 p.m.

 

We have a special volunteer opportunity to help with trail maintenance on the Superior Hiking Trail.  Volunteers will meet and park at Chambers Grove Park in Fon Du Lac, from there we will carpool to the old Mission Creek trailhead and hike around one mile into the project area.   Volunteers will help with corridor clean-up by removing dead debris and loopping brush along the corridor.   Total time commitment of 3 to 4 hours which includes the hike in and out.    Please contact Dan Maki if interested in helping.

 

By Anthony Nordan

 

President Zach Walters rang in our meeting. The ringing of the bell was a fitting start to this meeting as the guest speaker was here to talk about sports.

 

President Zach Walters

 

Today’s reflection was brought to us by Al Makynenn. Al started off by saying that he isn’t an athlete. He went up against the number 1 basketball scorer in the state of Minnesota on Junior Rotarian Day. He went up against Anders Broman. Rotarians aren’t expected to be the best but to step up and make a difference in the world. Al still has the mini basketball from that day.

 

We had two guests today:

Kristin Mallet (Guest Speaker)

 

As a reminder that all money in the Golden Can goes to the Grants committee.

 

 

Jerry Thoreson is making an announcement for Dan Macki. We are looking for volunteers to help clean out the Superior Hiking Trail on October 10^th from 1-5pm. Cleaning up from Chambers Grove to Mission Creek. It is a 1-mile hike in and out of the area. It will take about 3 hours to clean up the hiking trail. It will be a great opportunity to be in fellowship and exercise for the weekend.

 

Past President Gary Melander gave us a 2-week warning about the rose sale. Jeff Fifield came up to encourage everyone to think outside of the box. He had gone back in the records of Rotarians as far back as he could. He is writing letters to old members to see if they would be interested in buying roses. These are former Rotarians who are no longer members of the club but still may hold some affiliation. It is a great idea to look to people who may still wish to support rotary but not actively kept up to date on the goings on of the club.

 

Jeff Fifield introduces this year's Jr Rotarians (below)

There were many Junior Rotarians at the meeting. One of these Junior Rotarians was also a former Rookie Basketball Association player. These Junior Rotarians came from Habor City, Hermantown, and Proctor.

 

Kristin Mallett

 

Yours truly - Gimlet writer (Anthony Nordan) - was tasked with double duty today. I introduced Kristin Mallett to the club. Kris is an amazing person who has led the Salvation Army’s Rookie Basketball to new heights as it begins its 38^th season. Kris is here to talk about more than just the Salvation Army Rookie Basketball Association, she is also talking about the power of sport in our lives.

 

Sports do something that very few other things can. They put us in a high stress situation and expects us to succeed. Sports can also put strangers together and expect them to work together. This is something that helps in our communication and coordination skills. Which is important for the task that was given to the club. The club members were all given Uno cards and told to stake them as high as they could. It is important to note that that was the only instruction given.

 

After 2 minutes there was innovative thinking from all members. One table put a card onto of a water glass to “stack” it as high as possible. One table used their hands to stack one card length wise on top of each other holding them in place. This worked right up until Kris told everyone to take their hands off the cards. The President Zack Walters’ table was able to stack them pretty high.

 

 

Rookie Basketball’s foundation is built upon the Marks of Excellence: Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Gentleness, Faithfulness, and Self-Control. If these seem familiar, they are also the Fruits of the Spirit. These marks are the base on which sports are built upon but the motto of Rookie Basketball is H.O.P.E

Higher Standard

Opportunity

Proactive

Expectations

 

 

Sports has an incredible power to bring people together. It also has the ability to make lasting changes on those players lives. Kris told a story about a letter that was written to the Duluth Public School District. She would reveal after the story that the letter was written by her parents to a teacher who had encouraged her to start sports. This letter was given to Kris after his passing as his kids were going through his clip boards and clearing his home out. Kris didn’t know her parents had written that letter thanking him but even they could see the impact of sports in Kris’ life.

 

Rotarians are challenged to step up and be the change in the world. Coaches offer that opportunity to make a major difference in the life of youth today and set them on a positive trajectory for tomorrow. If any Rotarian is interested in becoming a coach, or being a coach’s assistant.

 

E-Mail: Kristin.Mallett@usc.salvationarmy.org

Cell: 218-576-6174

 

For our 50/50 Raffle the winning numbers were 3727386. The winning number won $37.

 

President Zach Walters and Kristin Mallett